Published this week, the latest Scottish Health Survey shows mental wellbeing has declined significantly since before the pandemic and health inequalities between the most and least deprived are persisting.

An annual survey of health among Scotland’s population has revealed a decline in reported levels of mental wellbeing among adult Scots since 2019, following a decade of “fairly constant” mental wellbeing scores.

The Scottish Health Survey 2021 published this week shows women’s average mental wellbeing fell by more than men’s during the pandemic and that those in more deprived areas reported lower wellbeing.

Health inequality challenges are apparent throughout the report, with differences observed in wellbeing, health outcomes and rates of poor health behaviours – including smoking and drug use – between Scots living in the most and least deprived areas.

Recently, healthandcare.scot spoke with Ashley McLean from Poverty Alliance and Chris Creegan, a Strategic Advisor to the independent review of health inequalities in Scotland about the importance of narrowing the health gap between wealthiest and poorest.

The findings annual Scottish Health Survey, which had 4,557 adults and 1,600 children taking part in the most recent edition, indicated that the prevalence of depression, anxiety or suicidality remained equivalent in 2021 compared to previous years but that people from the poorest areas remain over-represented.

The largest difference was observed for ever having self-harmed, with just 4% of respondents from the least deprived areas compared to 17% of people from the most deprived areas.  

Last month, the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) released Still Forgotten, the final report as part of a study investigating the impact of the pandemic on Scots with existing mental health problems.

SAMH found that structural changes to mental health care, such as a move to virtual appointments due to covid-19 had persisted into year two of the pandemic. Challenges remain, with 6 out of 10 respondents who tried to contact GP or specialist care since March 2021 reporting difficulties accessing care.

The Health Survey reveals that adult respondents who reported using drugs in the last 12 months, had ‘significantly lower mental wellbeing’ than those who had not used drugs. Similar patterns in wellbeing and drug use were reported for both men and women.

Drug use was also most common among the poorest areas, with 19% of respondents using ‘Any Drug’ in 2021 from the most deprived areas compared to just 9% in the least deprived areas.

Only 60% of adults in the most deprived areas reported ‘good’ or ‘very good’ general health in 2021, compared to 87% of those from least deprived areas. The lowest mental wellbeing scores were reported for younger adults in the most deprived areas, with reports of both anxiety and depression increasing as deprivation increased.

Suicidality was almost 10% higher for respondents from the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas. Louise Christie, the Director of the Scottish Recovery Network, recently shared the power of peer support to help Scots struggling with their mental health and affected by suicide.

Overall, the prevalence of those reporting anxiety was higher for women in Scotland at 18% compared to 10% of men in 2021, with the difference increasing for younger Scots:

‘Younger women were significantly more likely to report two or more symptoms of anxiety compared to men of the same age, with proportions of 12% for men aged 25-34 and 33% for women in this age group.’

Research published earlier this year by the Mental Health Foundation estimated that mental health problems cost the Scottish economy around £8.8bn every year. Lee Knifton, Director of MHF Scotland, has urged the Scottish government to “prioritise prevention in mental health” and empower people in Scotland to live well.

Peer support is included as part of the Scottish government’s new 10-year suicide prevention strategy, ‘Creating Hope Together’ launched in September – with aims of early intervention and work to tackle risk factors including poverty.

Read more: Can Scotland make health fairer?; Cash needed for disabled people and carers; Go ahead for vulnerable teenagers' inpatient unit

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